Chapter 17 #2
This is all because of me. The valuable pawn that can do nothing. When will the bloodshed stop just because I exist?
There was a thunderous commotion underneath her feet, screams and heavy footsteps reverberating through the stone. A hand was around her wrist then and she looked up to Calum. His bright jade eyes were wild with worry and something else, something she couldn’t quite decipher.
“Forgive me, M’Lady. We have to move now. We’ll be fodder if we stay in here.”
And with that, Calum pulled her across the floor and into the corridor.
He kept her pressed into his side with his cloak draped around her shoulders, hiding her from view.
They hurried to the servants’ corridors and headed down the tight and narrow passage.
Kira’s mind was only on Hunter and Edine, praying for the first time since her youth.
Her breathing was quick, and her legs struggled to keep up with Calum’s pace, but he pulled her along in spite of her stumbling steps.
When they reached the end and stepped out into the light drizzle with a stormy sky overhead, horror froze her completely.
There in the courtyard, the one that forever smelled of rosemary because of the late Lady Galbraith and the neat rows of flowers and herbs maintained in her memory, was being trampled and bled upon.
Galbraith warriors collided with men adorning both Fairbairn and Barclay tartans.
Her legs longed to give out from under her, to cry out for it to all stop, to spare the rosemary and columbines, to simply take her if it meant the cruelty upon Galbraith and all the family had ever been would stop.
There wasn’t time to plead, though, as men were charging at her and Calum in an instant. Calum tucked her behind him and shielded her from the attacks. She could see nothing but the sound of steel on steel as they fought made her ears ache and her heart race.
In between attackers, Calum would advance all the while keeping his arm locked around Kira, keeping her close to his body as he fought through the chaos. “Worry nae, M’Lady. We will be safe soon.”
Calum was rushing toward the stables, she assumed to get them on a horse and ride to Hunter. Good. She needed to be with him and to see Edine was safe and sound with her own eyes.
And then, a sharp, painful exhale sounded from Calum.
Kira looked up to see his face etched in shock—and an arrow protruding from his ribs.
Her eyes widened and she opened her arms to try to steady him.
Her mind reeled, trying to think of what to do, where to take him.
But he stood on his own, shaking his head.
“I’m alright, M’Lady.” But his words were too raspy, his voice too shallow. Worry consumed her and guilt panged at her heart.
“Kira, my beloved,” a familiar voice breathed.
She turned to see a horse approaching—the same wild stallion that Rory had been trying to break all those weeks ago. And atop was none other than Rory Barclay, his oceanic eyes staring at her with relief and joy. A bow was in his hands… He had been the one to strike Calum.
Rory jumped from his horse and hurried toward her.
As his arm stretched out to reach her, she saw it more clearly.
The look in his eyes wasn’t relief and joy for knowing someone he cared for was safe—he was looking at her like a stolen trinket he was finally reclaiming.
A pretty jewel that had been snuck away from his Keep and that he longed to put back in its pretty, velvet case.
The man before her shared the same madness as her father: a blinding hunger for valuable game pieces and bargaining chips.
She stepped back, pulling Calum with her. “Dinnae come near me,” she ordered.
Rory blinked at her, his brow furrowing in confusion. “I’m here to save ye.”
“Ye’re here to take me. I dinnae wish to leave Galbraith. Call off this siege,” Kira commanded.
The Laird who had once looked like a safe haven with all his boyish charm and gleeful life transformed before her very eyes.
His dark eyes narrowed and he shook his head.
“Ye can feel all ye wish about me, Kira, but I can assure ye, ye’re safer with me than ye are in the arms of that traitor.
” He pointed to Calum who was struggling to stand.
Kira scoffed and opened her mouth to rebut, but Rory spoke again.
“He’s yer faither’s rat. The one who fed yer faither every last bit of information.
The same one who opened the gates for Fairbairn at the last siege of Galbraith Keep—and the one who handed Edine Galbraith over.
Now tell me, do ye really feel safer in his arms than mine? ”
It felt like Rory had punched her in the stomach, all the air in her body evacuating in a painful exhale.
She didn’t want to believe it, but something about it made sense.
Calum had always been one of the most trusted people at Galbraith.
It had to be someone who would go unquestioned when things weren’t right.
Calum pushed himself away from Kira, standing straight and grasping the arrow shaft, pulling it out and discarding it before bracing his sword in both hands. He stood tall and positioned himself between Kira and Rory.
“Ye’re right, I’m a traitor. But at least I will atone for it now. I put my maither’s life before Kira’s. And now, I’m keeping Kira’s before my own,” Calum said, his voice still raspy and shallow.
His mother? Kira wanted to know what he meant, she wanted to understand how he could betray the man that he had sworn his life to, but there was no time for questions.
The two men collided in battle. In spite of his injury, Calum held his own with pride and determination.
His sword raised to block each of Rory’s blows with his dirk.
Kira was no warrior, but she could tell that Rory wasn’t as skilled as Calum, held back only by his injury. She wanted to leap in to fight with Calum, but she would only be in the way and put Calum in more danger.
Rory brought a foot to the center of Calum’s chest and kicked him hard to the ground. This wasn’t the wiry, boyish Laird Kira had almost married. This man was the unassuming, ruthless ally of her father. Calum gasped for air and blood sprayed from his mouth as Rory towered over him.
All at once, she was a young lass again.
Standing helpless and silent at her father’s side while he burned Hunter’s father.
She had watched the flames lick at his skin and scorch his flesh, and she had done nothing.
She didn’t even have the courage to scream for help.
Was she really about to stand and watch another person that Hunter cared for die?
Rory wrangled the hilt of the sword out of Calum’s hand and positioned it over him. With one swoop, Calum would be pierced right in the heart.
Forgive me, maither.
Kira grabbed hold of the heavy pendant and tugged, feeling the chain break around the back of her neck. And then she hurled it right at Rory, watching with satisfaction as it hit him in the face. It didn’t hurt, of course, but it distracted him.
Rory turned and glared hard at her. “Ye want me, nae him. Leave him alone,” she said with all the bark she could muster.
“So if I spare him, ye’ll come with me willingly?” he queried.
Kira only glared, not confirming or denying. She didn’t have any plans to go willingly with Rory. Doing so would only make the war between the clans go on. Hunter would not simply let her go.
Rory sighed and looked back down to Calum, who was still struggling for air as he writhed. “Sorry, my beloved. This man stood in my way. I simply cannae let that go.”
The sound that followed was gut wrenching, her entire body flinched and her eyes squeezed shut a moment too late. The image of the silver blade piercing Calum’s chest was seared into her memory. And then the shock wore off and she was racing toward him.
“Calum! Calum!” she screamed.
An arm snaked around her and held her back from reaching him. “It’s unbecoming for a Lady to touch the dead,” Rory said in her ear.
She fought against his hold, trying to free herself to get to Calum. When she managed out of his arms’ hold, his fingers wrapped around the roots of her hair and he began to drag her from Galbraith Keep as she kicked and screamed for Calum, for her freedom, for Hunter.